66. Pratica di mercatura

Archivio di Stato di Prato: Datini
1174, Fasc. 11
SENDER: Cristofano Carocci (only for 23v)
GENERAL INFORMATION: Datable fourteenth century.

This is a record on 34 leaves of paper, written by a single hand (except for 23v, attributed to Cristofano Carocci, an employee of Francesco Datini first in Pisa and then in Catalonia). The presence of Cristofano Carocci’s hand suggests that the document must have been drafted in Pisa no later than 1385–86. The document discusses several Mediterranean, European and Italian markets, in tables with equivalences in prices, currency, weights, and in general, information of a very practical nature. As illustrated by p. 3r, which describes Constantinople, the document registers information about each of these markets, such as the local units of measurement, their use in relation to goods and the equivalence of these units of measurement with those of other places. Page 14v registers Florentine units of measurement and relates them with other Italian cities as well as with Tunisia.

(Chiara Marcheschi)